The Silent Night of the Silent Knight
by Magnus Parvus
Summary: Batgirl used the prime strength of the comic medium, the ability to freeze frame intense physical action and reaction but also intense emotional action and reaction. This is my attempt to write a silent comic, to use pictures to tell the story in its enti


Batgirl swung by a cable gracefully through the air.

She became alert as she suddenly heard the sound of several shots being fired.

She swooped down onto the scene where she had heard the shots come from. Below her was a small 24-hour check-cashing outlet called Cash and Go. She saw a young man lying on the ground, his hand held over his bleeding gunshot wound. Another scruffy looking man with a smoking pistol in one of his hands and a small sack in the other, ran away from the scene, toward a small mini-van.

Batgirl landed on the ground, between the two men.

She watched as the man with the pistol opened the door to the mini van attempting to make his escape.

She then looked over to the bleeding man on the ground. He writhed in pain, his face in anguish. He wore a bloodstained shirt with the Cash and Go logo emblazed on it and a nametag that read Marty.

Batgirl sighed. She hunched over her shoulders and stared at the ground resigningly.

She grabbed the Cash and Go employee over her shoulder as she watched the van drive off.

She focused in on the license plate. M4Y 2M9.

She flung a cable with one hand to a nearby building while still holding the employee.

She tugged on the cable, whipping herself into the air.

She sailed over the rooftops carrying the injured man.

She landed at the Saint David's Hospital emergency room.

She burst in through the doors with the injured man in her arms, several shocked attendants turned to look at her.

One of the attendants brought forth a stretcher. Batgirl proceeded to lay the employee on the stretcher.

The injured man looked wanly up at Batgirl in admiration.

Then he was whisked away by the medical attendants toward an operating room.

Several of the surrounding shocked personal turned to Batgirl but she was no longer there.

Two nurses stared at each other, both seemingly quite confused.

Batgirl swung over the rooftops toward the clock tower. The time on the tower read 12:30.

She entered the tower. Oracle turned to her and smiled.

Batgirl pointed to the computer screen. Oracle looked to her wonderingly.

Oracle leaned over, typing onto her keyboard. The license plate number M4Y 2M9 came up on the computer screen.

The next screen that came up was Gotham DMV database. Processing…

The next screen that came up was Match Found. Reported stolen. Victor Montgomery, 180 Millerstown Crescent. A man with thick glasses could be seen on the screen.

Batgirl swung down outside a house labeled 180. Behind her was a sign shield that said Millerstown Crescent.

Batgirl removed a carrying pouch she had slung around her shoulder.

Batgirl dug into her knapsack and pulled out a police hat and some clothing.

There was a knock at the door. The man with thick glasses looked up from his newspaper hearing the knock.

He opened the door to see a young oriental policewoman. She held a small notepad and pencil in her hand.

The man motioned for her to come in the house.

They both sat at chairs by the kitchen table. Batgirl scribbled on the notepad while the man talked.

The man with the thick glasses was driving along in his mini van. Music came forth from the car radio and he seemed quite content.

Up ahead he saw the light turn yellow.

He pressed his foot on the gas petal.

Up ahead he saw the light turn red. He looked up at it angrily.

He pressed his foot on the brake.

The van skidded to a halt at the intersection.

The man whistled as he tapped absently at the steering wheel.

The man turned to his radio and began to fiddle with the knobs.

Suddenly from through his rolled down window a large handgun was pointed at his head.

The man turned to the scruffy assailant both shocked and very scared.

The man with the gun screamed at him viciously.

The scared man put his hands over his head and stepped one foot out of the car.

The assailant hopped inside the van still leveling his gun at the panic stricken man on the street.

The gunman slammed the van door. The carjacking victim tore at his hair in vain.

The van peeled off. The man with the thick glasses watched as the van rolled out of sight.

The man looked to the corner where he was and saw a telephone booth and street sign Haite and Huckleberry. The clock tower behind him read 10:10.

The man poured water from a hot kettle into a one of the two cups that lay before him on the kitchen counter.

He picked up the two cups, one in each hand.

He turned around surprised to see the policewoman gone. He dropped the two cups in alarm.

He noticed the policewoman's notepad left on the table.

He went over to examine it, grabbing it in one hand before him. He scratched his head puzzled to find it contained only random scribbles.

Batgirl landed at the corner of Haite and Huckleberry near the street sign.

She went over to the sidewalk close to where the telephone booth was. Something on the ground caught her eye.

She bent down on the ground to see two things. One was a small empty vial. the other was a bent up tin can with scorch marks on it.

She picked up the tin can and sniffed at it.

The she picked up the empty vial. She looked at it carefully.

Batgirl heard a shuffling noise. She turned suddenly to face it.

Beyond her in the shadows further down the street she could make out a person. He was talking to another person. He seemed to be handing him something.

Batgirl focused in on what was being exchanged a small vial like she held but this one was of several crystalline rocks.

Batgirl swooped in among them. The buyer dropped his money hurriedly and looked at her advancing form in panic. The dealer reached underneath his jacket.

The dealer pulled the gun only to have it whipped from his hands by a blow from Batgirl's hand. With the other she grabbed him by the collar.

Batgirl thrust the dealer up against the wall with one hand. The dealer looked at her panic stricken.

Batgirl pointed at the Haite and Huckleberry intersection where the lights were. The clock tower in the backdrop read 1:20.

Then she held up the empty vial.

Batgirl let the dealer down from the wall and crossed her arms expectantly.

The dealer looped up from his dope deal seeing the gunman pull the gun on the driver of the minivan. The clock tower behind them read 10:10.

The dealer looked to the gunman sitting on the corner looking dazed with the empty vial and the bent soda can beside him. The clock tower behind them read 9:10.

The dealer looked at Batgirl blankly.

Batgirl rotated her index finger in a circular motion indicated for him to go on. The clock tower behind her read 1:30.

The dealer still looked at her blankly.

Batgirl snarled back at him.

Batgirl angrily reached inside the dealer's jacket.

Batgirl pulled out a bag with a bunch of vials. She held it in the air before him. She looked at him seriously. The dealer looked back even more scared.

She tossed the bag on the ground with a thud.

She slammed it hard with her foot smashing the vials and their contents to pieces.

She grabbed the dealer in both of her hands by the collar.

She lifted him into the air smashing him off the brick wall again. She looked toward him angry. The dealer looked down horrified.

The dealer handed the gunman the vial with one hand while he received the money with the other, when he sold the vial of crack to the gunman.

The dealer looked at Batgirl scared.

He then pointed to a nearby building.

The gunman slapped the money out bill by bill onto the piles he had stacked on the coffee table. Several empty vials as well as bent up soda cans were strewn around the messy stained coffee table.

The gunman smiled greedily as he sat in his ratty apartment counting the cash from the Cash and Go.

Suddenly he heard a knock at the door. The gunman froze and looked up anxiously.

The gunman got up reaching into his jacket.

He held his gun at the door as he approached it.

Suddenly the door to his apartment busted down in a great flash of dust.

The gunman looked up surprised to see Batgirl standing in the doorway.

Before he could attempt to do anything Batgirl struck him hard, dead on in the face and the gun dropped from his limp hands.

The gunman slammed viciously into the coffee table. It crumbled underneath him in a swirl of dust.

The gunman slumped unconscious on top of the cash that he had stolen. Batgirl stood over him triumphantly.

Batgirl smiled and crossed her arms in satisfaction.

"The Silent Night of the Silent Knight" m


End file.
